Wednesday, 10 May 2017

May #7: The Loudest Gig I Ever Went To

6. Silver Sun - Lava

Wednesday the 21st of October, 1998, I went down to a
regular gig haunt of mine back in the day, to check out one of my favourite
bands of the post-Britpop era: Silver Sun. (The way I see it, OK Computer
marked the end of Britpop in '97, This Is Hardcore was the wake in '98.
Everything that came after was post-Britpop. OK?) I went with Dave - one of the
two Daves who accompanied me (though rarely at the same time) on 80% of my
gig-going life, most of the remaining 20% being gigs I attended solo. When we got
there though, we were surprised to discover that there was another band booked
in the main room. The Cockpit wasn't the biggest of venues anyway; it had an
arched corrigated iron ceiling like an aircraft hanger, but you'd have
struggled to squeeze more than a couple of Airfix Spitfires in there. I can't remember who the other band
were, nobody I'd heard of or wanted to see, certainly. But I do remember that
we ended up in the Other Room, which was basically a bar and a couple of
upturned buckets for a stage. Iffypedia tells me that the second room at The
Cockpit had a capacity of 250 people: if so, so does my bathroom. Anyway, the
point is... it was crowded. So crowded, I spent much of my time stood in the
corridor that led to the sick-bucket toilets: partly through claustrophobia, partly
to give my ears some release.

I described Silver Sun as post-Britpop to differentiate them
from the obvious guitar band suspects of that era, though in truth their sound
wasn't Britpop at all, it was pure power pop. They made a hell of a racket, but
a very tuneful one, full of hooks the size of sideboards and glorious harmonies
nicked from the Beach Boys and the Byrds. I saw them live more than once, at
bigger venues or festivals, but this was the smallest room I think I ever saw
any band perform in... and cramming all that noise into such a tiny space took
some doing.

My hearing isn't the best. Being hard of hearing runs in the
family: both my parents have hearing aids, as does my older brother. I'm just
counting the days (and trying to save up). But I reckon there's a little more to my deafness than just
the hereditary: all those loud gigs I attended in the 90s must have had a little to
do with it. So when I do need to get myself fitted for an ear trumpet... I'll
be sending the bill to Silver Sun.

8 comments:

A great band who I also saw several times, including my only ever visit to BBC's Maida Vale studios. Silver Sun were there to record some live tunes for broadcast and/or b-sides, but unfortunately James Broad had a stinker of a cold and sounded bloody awful. I don't think any of the recordings were ever used. I blame Bob Mould for my tinnitus. The joint loudest gigs I've ever been to would have to be Husker Du and Sugar.

Yes, a hell of a power pop racket, sounds good to me.Gigs and ears, though... worst time ever for me was standing right near a monitor once when Mr SDS' band were playing. The sound man seemed to have a gripe against them and I'm pretty sure he turned the volume up to an intolerable degree as a deliberate act of malice. Afterwards I felt like I was underwater for about three hours, everything was so muffled, I have never had my hearing impaired to such an extent - it was horrific! My ears recovered but Mr SDS's have never been the same since his gigging days. We will be a deaf generation!

C's comment about us being a deaf generation rings true. My ears are becoming increasingly gubbed.

Doesn't help that I still won't take any protection to gigs these days so when The Twilight Sad come along and go for it as they did at Glasgow Barrowlands at Xmas 2014 then I'm only asking for trouble.

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Just the humble witterings of a middle-aged music fan from the north of England. I don't claim these lists to be definitive, I haven't heard every record ever produced (though I have heard a good number of them), I don't believe my opinion to be any more valid than yours.

I just like listening to old songs from my record collection and writing about them. Your recommendations are always welcome... if I've missed your favourite - let me know in the comments.

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